Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 1): Zeus god of the bright sky (Cambridge, 1914)

168 Zeus superseded by Saint Elias

even more potent—the incalculable force of old associations.
These affected at once places, circumstances, and names. Men
would resort to the familiar cult-centre and expect the new
occupant of the shrine to bestow the customary blessing. Again,
folk-tales, even if raised to the rank of myths by the sanction of
literature, would readily attach themselves afresh to new heroes,
provided that these in their doings and sufferings bore some
resemblance to the old. Especially would Christian saints whose
names happened to be derived from those of heathen deities tend
to acquire powers and prerogatives properly belonging to the said
deities. In these and other such ways the old order changed ;
or rather, the old order did not change, but at most submitted
to a new nomenclature. Causation apart, the practical result was
this : the old gods and goddesses, the old heroes and heroines,
often with their precincts, their temples, and their very statues1,
were re-christened and re-consecrated in the service of the new
religion2. For a second time and in a subtler sense Graecia capta
femtm victorem cepit.

A few typical cases will be in point. At Byzantion the pagan
twins Kastor and Polydeukes had been wont to cure the sick by
means of incubation. The Christian twins Kosmas and Damianos
followed suit, doing the same thing at the same place; indeed,
unconverted Greeks are reported to have called them Kastor and
Polydeukes and to have been solemnly rebuked by them for the
very pardonable misnomer. These Christian Dioskouroi, like their
pagan predecessors, appeared to persons imploring their aid as

1 Examples are collected by L. Friedlander Erinnerungen, Reden und Studien
Strassburg 1905 i. 370ff., who inter alia cites from E. Miintz Histoire de Vartpendant la
renaissance 1889 i. 21 a mediaeval misinterpretation of lupiter with his eagle as John the
Evangelist.

2 A general treatment of the subject will be found in F. Piper Mythologie und
Symbolik der christlichen Kunst Weimar 1847—1851, V. Schultze Geschichte des Unter-
gangs des griechisch-rdmischen Heidentums Jena 1887 —1892, T. Trede Das Heidentum
in der romischen Kirche Gotha 1889—1891, id. Bilder aus dem religidsen und sittlichen
Volksleben Silditaliens Gotha 1909, F. v. Arneth Das classische Heidentum und die christ-
liche Religion Wien 1895, E. Lucius Die Anfdnge des Heiligenkults in der christlichen
Kirche (a posthumous work ed. by G. Anrich) Tubingen 1904, W. Soltau Das Fortleben
des Heidentums in der altchristlichen Kirche Berlin 1906, A. Dieterich Kleine Schriften
Leipzig and Berlin 1911 pp. 449—539 'Der Untergang der antiken Religion.' Recent
French and English books bearing on the same theme are H. Delehaye Les Legendes
Hagiographiques2 Bruxelles 1906, Les legendes grecques des saints militaires Paris 1909,
T. R. Glover The Conflict of Religions in the Early Roman Empire^ London 1910,
J. C. Lawson Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion Cambridge 1910, Miss
M. Hamilton Greek Saints and Their Festivals Edinburgh and London 1910. A
survey of articles etc. dealing with special points is given by Gruppe Myth. Lit. 1908
pp. 302—320 ' Das Fortleben des Heidentums im Christentum.'